Search

American Joey Chestnut

wins hot-dog eating contest

with 66 in 12 minutes

Published: Wednesday, July 4, 2007 | 2:36 PM ETCanadian PressNEW YORK (AP) – In a gut-busting showdown that combined drama, daring and indigestion, Joey Chestnut emerged Wednesday as the world’s hot dog eating champion, knocking off six-time titlist Takeru Kobayashi in a rousing triumph.Chestnut, the great red, white and blue hope in the annual Fourth of July competition, broke his own world record by inhaling 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes – a staggering one every 10.9 seconds before a screaming crowd in Coney Island.Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Ca. eats some of the 66 hot dogs he ate in 12 minutes to win the Nathan’s Famous July Fourth International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan’s Famous restaurant in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, New York. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)“If I needed to eat another one right now, I could,” the 23-year-old Californian said after receiving the mustard yellow belt emblematic of hot dog eating supremacy.Chestnut won in a bun-zer beating performance against Kobayashi, the Japanese eating machine who recently had a wisdom tooth extracted and received chiropractic treatment due to a sore jaw. But the winner of every Nathan’s hot dog competition since 2001 showed no ill effects as he stayed with Chestnut frank-for-frank until the very end of the 12-minute competition.Kobayashi finished with 63 HDBs – hot dogs and buns eaten – in his best performance ever. His previous high in the annual competition was 53 1/2. The all-time record before Wednesday’s remarkable contest was Chestnut’s 59 1/2, set just last month.

The two gustatory gladiators quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the 17 competitors, processing more beef than a slaughterhouse within the first few minutes. The two had each downed 60 hot dogs with 60 seconds to go when Chestnut – the veins on his forehead extended – put away the final franks to end Kobayashi’s reign.